Conversation Hearts
by Tari Seregon
Summary: Funny how a couple sayings on Conversation Hearts at Valentine’s Day can change the course of your life forever.


_**Conversation Hearts**_

_Funny how a couple sayings on Conversation Hearts at Valentine's Day can change the course of your life forever._

It was going to be the best Valentine's Day ever. Of course, I had had many Valentine's Days that I had spent with Hermione, but this one I knew (or rather, I hoped) would be the best, as long as all went according to plan.

I arrived at her apartment about half an hour late. I had surprised her by renting a Muggle video, but it had taken awhile to do that. Although she lived in the Wizarding world, being raised a Muggle, she could not be without her television set so that she could watch her favorite videos with that movie star, Orlando Bloom, whom she adored. I hated him for that. Posters were pinned all over her bedroom of him – posters of him with his shirt off, posters of him in hats, long hair, short hair, no hair at all . . . sometimes I just wished I could be him so she could love me as much as she loved him.

Anyway, since we had no Muggle videos in my house (and _especially_ none with Orlando Bloom in them), I had to venture out into the Muggle world to get it. That took a long time. Once I got there, I picked out the one I thought she had mentioned was her favorite – _Pirates of the Caribbean_ – and went up to the desk to pay for it. It took a while for me to get out my Muggle money, since I'm not used to that weird currency they have, with their pounds and sixpence and everything. That alone took me about twenty minutes. I could tell the girl was getting quite annoyed with me.

They said it was a video renting store, and since I didn't know what it meant to _rent_ something, I figured it was just some other fancy word that meant to buy it. So when she told me that I had to bring it back by Monday at twelve o'clock, I began to protest. The argument wasted about twenty more minutes of my time. Finally she explained to me that renting a video meant that I could take it home and watch it as many times as I wanted until the day that she said I had to bring it back. Then I would have to bring it back to the store and drop it into the little slot in by the front entrance.

When I thought about it, it seemed like a pretty stupid thing to do since you could pretty much buy the video in a store for only double the price and watch it as many times as you wanted for the rest of your life, but if it was for Hermione, I really didn't care.

"Finally," Hermione said when I walked through the door, as I had stupidly flown to her apartment instead of driving like she had suggested. "I thought you would _never_ get here!"

"Sorry, hon, I had some trouble at the video store. The lady had to convince me that you couldn't keep the videos. What's the point of renting it when you can just buy it? It's a much better deal," I said, peeling off my coat. I walked over to her, wrapped my arms around her waist, and kissed her softly.

"Well, I'm just glad you got here. It would've been better if you had been on time for once, but I suppose it's fine that you're here now," she replied, plopping herself down on the couch and motioning for me to sit down next to her. I smiled at her, and her hair falling gently into her face, her eyes sparkling when she looked deep into mine.

"You're really beautiful, Hermione, you know that?" I said quietly. It was actually mostly for myself – to psyche up myself and prepare myself for what I was planning for later that night.

She blushed and said, "Ron, you've said that to me a million times before. And it never gets old."

I sat down next to her and said, "I know. That's why I say it all the time. Now, are we going to watch this movie or not?"

"Which one did you get for me?" she asked, a mischievous smile crossing her face. I plucked it out of my pocket and waved it at her. She gasped.

"Oh, Ron, _Pirates of the Caribbean_! That's so sweet of you! You know how much I love Orlando, but you love me enough to get it for me anyway! Oh!" she cried. She threw her arms around me in a huge hug that I thought would suffocate me.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking," I said, smiling. "Now, let's watch this thing."

Of course, I thought the movie was horrible. I couldn't stand her gasping every single time Will Turner, the character that Orlando played, would come on the screen. But just having my arms around her made the entire thing better, especially when she would gaze at me lovingly every so often in recognition for what I had done.

The end of the movie (finally) came around, and so did the final kiss of the movie.

"_Is this the path you have chosen? After all, he is a blacksmith_," the girl's father said to her.

She took off his hat and said, more so speaking to Will than to her father, "No, he's a pirate."

And there it was. The final kiss. Hermione gave that sudden intake of breath, where I knew that she was wishing was the person playing Elizabeth. My grip on her hand tightened, but she was completely focused on the screen. I couldn't take it. I felt her slipping through my fingers. My perfect date was going to be completely ruined.

I was overreacting. Of course it wouldn't be ruined. She would still love me for me, even if I wasn't Orlando Bloom. But at the same time, I wanted to do something. So instead of just sitting there and watching her eyes lock on the screen, I took her into my arms and kissed her like Orlando was kissing Elizabeth on the screen.

I withdrew from her gently and said, "I know it's not as great as being able to kiss Orlando Bloom, but I hope it can sustain you until someday when you get the chance."

Hermione gently reached out and stroked my face. "Oh, Ron," she whispered. "Your kiss is the best kiss that any girl could ever hope for."

I smiled. There was nothing more I could say. I was happier then I could ever have been. But now, it was time to put my plan into action.

"Come on, sweetie, let's go outside for a minute. The stars are supposed to be beautiful tonight," I suggested.

"Alright," she said, grinning. She always knew when I had something up my sleeve. Hopefully she wouldn't figure out what I was planning tonight.

I lead her outside, a large bag of blank conversation hearts in my pocket. Her hand in mine made my heart pound. The seriousness of what I was about to do was suddenly impressed upon me. But it didn't matter – I realized that no matter what happened, this was the right decision, and that kiss had just proved it.

Just like the weather had predicted, it was a beautiful, clear night, where the stars shone brightly on the grass. The moon was a huge, bright, glowing ball in the sky that hung over the lake behind her apartment. And the moonlight made everything else about her seem to glow more radiantly.

I sat her down on the grass and pulled out the bag of conversation hearts (without the conversation).

"Ron, what are you scheming?" she asked, her eyes darting back and forth from the hearts to me and back to the hearts.

I pulled out my wand and pointed it at the hearts, and instantly a pink substance flew out and landed on the heart. I passed it over to Hermione.

You're gorgeous, it read plainly.

She smiled and took a heart, pointed her wand at it, and wrote me a message.

Tell me more, the heart read. She smiled at me mischievously.

You're my angel, the next one read.

My lover, said the next that I sent.

My life, said the last one.

I watched her cheeks growing redder by the minute, and yet she was smiling. I knew she was enjoying this.

Can I ask you something? Read the next heart I sent her.

Anything.

What's your favorite flavor of the hearts?

She smirked and sent one back, saying, Purple, why?

You'll see, said the one I sent in reply.

I searched through the bag to find a purple one of the hearts. My heart racing, I took a small, black velvety box out of my pocket. Using my wand, I put the message on the purple heart I had picked out for her. I placed the heart on top of the box. Gently, I pushed it over to Hermione. She gasped, bigger than she had when Orlando had come on the screen.

The heart read, Marry me.

"Oh, Ron . . ." she whispered.

"Open the box," I whispered back. Slowly, she opened the box. There was no gasp this time, just her mouth hanging open. She pulled from the box the ring I had waited so long to give. Tears formed behind her eyes as she gently slipped it on to her finger.

"Oh, Ron . . ." she whispered again, her mouth still hanging open. But instead of just letting it hang there, I leaned into her and pressed my lips to hers softly. It was a question, awaiting a reply.

"Ronnie, of course I will," she said to me. And again, we kissed beneath the moonlight.

Funny how a couple sayings on Conversation Hearts at Valentine's Day can change the course of your life forever.


End file.
